The following article contains spoilers for No Time to Die.
A sexist, a misogynist dinosaur, and a relic of the cold war, M really put James Bond in his place when Pierce Brosnan took over the role in GoldenEye and that’s because at the time 007 really needed that type of sitdown. Despite the message being a tad different, the setup repeats itself in Casino Royale when M addresses Daniel Craig’s freshly licensed 007.
That is, of course, no accident because the Bond franchise only started to take itself more seriously in the Craig era, a turn that has rendered James Bond into an incredibly more complex and layered character than he ever was before. Unlike the original Bond blueprint laid out by Sean Connery or the mega campy films starring Roger Moore, Craig was the first actor to play Bond who actually got to show off his acting chops to full extent thanks to scripts that made the character more real, two elements that should probably be kept for the future of the franchise.
As weird as it may be to call a film like No Time to Die 'realistic,' the fact is that prior to Casino Royale the man with a license to kill was borderline absurd, especially in Die Another Day. As Ian Fleming used to put it, Bond was all about post-World War II escapism through the eyes of a violent yet classy protagonist, resulting in films that were an outlet for over-the-top spy stories calling back to an age of higher relevance for the British Empire.
Once the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War was over, Bond’s villains started to change too. No longer did they hail from Russia, Germany, and other eastern corners of Europe. Brosnan’s foes were the result of post-soviet fallout, media moguls, and North Korea’s conflict. Eon Productions switched up things for Craig’s Bond, with a story arc that once completed is not focused on world-ending threats posed by eccentric deranged men or plain terrorists, but rather one that is about James Bond himself and his personal ties to the villains. So, the next 007 might also be defined by the nature of his enemies.
Nevertheless, sorting out Bond’s antagonists is only the second part of the “What to do with James Bond question?” because the most crucial thing is figuring out 007 himself. Calls for the next Bond to be a woman seem completely dismissed by now, it’s simply something producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have taken a stand against, and No Time to Die succeeds in driving home the notion that as long Bond girls evolve alongside 007, Bond can continue to define masculinity and his relationship with women all for the better.
In fact, fans won’t know who the next James Bond will be for a long time. However, contrary to what current betting odds suggest, it’s unlikely he’ll be a widely recognized actor like Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston, or even less so Henry Cavill, who’s already cool enough as Superman and Geralt of Rivia without adding James Bond to his enviable resume. 007 benefits from bringing in an actor with a relatively unknown face, and hardly anyone has gained as much from this as Craig, who, despite initial criticism, is arguably retiring as the best James Bond of all time.
Again, this is partly because Craig’s Bond was allowed to go to places where no other 007 had ever been, and that’s not referring to the usual variety of breathtaking locations visited by him but to the new emotional boundaries explored. From Casino Royale onwards Bond descends onto a gruesome world filled with murder and betrayal that should also stay as part of him in the future because it's precisely this that allows an actor to tap into the extra depth the character has to offer.
After this cycle, it’s hard to imagine a world where audiences can continue to watch movies without caring for Bond and his MI6 entourage, so departing from this formula to go back to the one-off adventures of old could prove a costly mistake, not in box office terms but instead in the way it could hamper the story because Craig truly gained a lot from this type of world-building. In a day and age where every major franchise exists in an inter-connected cinematic universe, the idea of going back to the old Bond seems as dated as the character’s worst attitudes towards women 40 years ago.
Craig’s 007 in No Time to Die is still at its heart very much James Bond, or at the very least he appears to have redefined what the character is for good. Yet at certain points, it feels rushed and awkwardly put together because of the relative letdown that was Spectre. In the future, a No Time to Die type of story would be even better merely by having a more cohesive plan leading up to such a high note, instead of two lesser films such as Quantum of Solace and Spectre.
James Bond’s intriguing return will also come at the peak of the streaming era when every major studio has its own streaming service and even 007 finds himself in Amazon’s ranks. Perhaps in hindsight, this will be yet another nail in the coffin for pre-Craig Bond movies without a common storyline and could be the start of future spinoffs for the franchise.
Similar to Star Wars, James Bond movies are big events and that won’t change too much. Except for the usual dosage of exotic landscapes, beautiful women, high-tech gadgets, and nods to 007’s legacy, how Bond interacts with the world around him has always been different. Maybe the Bond of the future will fight back against the growing overreaching powers of big tech, he might fall in love again, or maybe this time around he can retire happily instead of dying.
Craig's 007 era leaves many great movies, some ranked among the best and most successful in the franchise, so it's hard to imagine producers not taking note of the world fully embracing this new type of Bond. Bond is an everchanging concept but the death of Craig's 007 does not mean his legacy is gone. The core concept is the clear path to continue moving forward and details like James' age, hair color, rank, experience, or his gadgets are just that, details. Just ask the man who was deemed too blonde to be James Bond.